John, All valid points for the system employed by your country.
But who should pay for deploying the technology? The Banks did not design the deployment of the SSN - so either the government or the customer should pay for it, and not the shareholders. Ron > -----Original Message----- > From: John P Baker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, 9 June 2005 11:20 AM > To: 'IBM Mainframe Discussion List' > Cc: 'Ron and Jenny Hawkins' > Subject: RE: Banks > > In the United States, a social security number is required for tax filing, > government benefits, and has essentially become a national id number, > although it was initially not intended to be used for that purpose. > > Employers must have your social security number in order to submit payroll > taxes and have them credited against your total tax liability. > > Financial institutions must have your social security number for tracking > of > financial transactions. You can not open a bank account, take out a loan, > purchase anything on credit, etc., without a social security number (or a > taxpayer id number for non-citizens). > > You can not get a driver's license without a social security number. > > The Citigroup financial information lost, or stolen, in transit is a big > potential problem in that IF it was stolen, it provides to the thieves > everything necessary to open bank accounts, etc. using someone else's name. > > It can take years and thousands of dollars for one individual to clear up > the mess. Identity theft can make it difficult or impossible to do simple > things like opening a bank account or taking out a loan. Identify theft > can > even make it difficult to get a job. > > As a Software Engineer, I can not excuse the companies who, through > neglect > or incompetence, or both, let things like this happen when the technology > is > available to protect these records from unauthorized access. > > We are not talking about a minor inconvenience here. Identify theft can > have catastrophic effects on lives. > > John P Baker > Software Engineer > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ron and Jenny Hawkins [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 20:46 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: Banks > > John, > > Thanks for that. I just checked some articles on this and see that it was > names, addresses and Social Security numbers that were lost. > > Still, I come from a country that doesn't have Social Security numbers for > identification, and I live in a country where everyone carries an ID card > with a photo on it. > > Names and addresses I can get from phone books and electoral rolls, so > what > does a social security number get me? > > Ron > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of John Baker > > Sent: Thursday, 9 June 2005 12:47 AM > > To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU > > Subject: Re: Banks > > > > Ron, > > > > The issue a not the card number but is rather all of the personal > > information (i.e., social security numbers, transaction histories, etc.) > > which can be used to establish identity. > > > > Replacing cards is easy. Repairing damaged credit is another thing all > > together. > > > > John P Baker > > Software Engineer > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
